Sexually transmitted infections: HAS wants to provide the information of the couple

To prevent sexually transmitted infections (STIs), the High Health Authority (HAS) proposes to change the current legislative framework on professional secrecy, which significantly limits the possibilities of informing couples.

“The objective is to offer the patient who is diagnosed with an STI the possibility of choosing the way to inform their partner(s) and thus promote the initiation of a notification process,” writes the HAS in a statement published this Thursday.

Couple informed by the caregiver?

“The idea would be that the health professional or a third party can inform the partner of a patient with the consent of the patient, if he cannot do so, for reasons that belong to him and despite all the efforts that are made to encourage him in this direction”, we explained to the health authority. A possibility that currently does not allow professional secrecy.

It is a “complementary strategy to the indiscriminate screening of STIs”.

“In 2022, bacterial STIs are on the rise in general, the HIV epidemic is still very active and the delay in diagnosis persists,” laments the HAS, which describes the fight against STIs as “a public health challenge” in the country.

Through this new opinion, the health authority wants to take the opportunity “to evaluate the sexual health of couples and carry out a screening for other STIs.”

Break the chains of transmission

According to the High Health Authority, whose views are generally followed by the government, the possibility of couples accelerated treatment (TAP) “should also be authorized in France.” In fact, current regulations do not allow it.

Accelerated treatment consists of giving a prescription to a patient diagnosed with an STI for the benefit of a partner, without prior consultation with the latter.

Such a change in the regulations would allow “attend couples as soon as possible, especially in the absence of symptoms and if it is known that they will not go to the doctor or approach the health system,” estimates the HAS.

The process known as partner(s) notification is an important prevention tool, remember. Its objective is to interrupt the chains of transmission, reaching a population at higher risk, to minimize associated morbidity and mortality.